The Schedule.

So, According to Politico, Congregational insiders are griping about Obama. He has not been helpful. Or whatever. Duh. Christ all mighty, were any of these people paying attention during the primaries? It was about him and only him 24/7.

Frankly, I don't much blame him for ignoring congress. Neighborhood dogs who dump on other people's lawns and bark all night are more popular than the Pelosi/Reid Congress. If I wanted to win I would not go near these people either.

This kicker of the piece is this: Other Obama campaign sources repeatedly noted that the drawn-out fight with Clinton has "put the campaign behind schedule"

What schedule? Who's schedule?

Let's state this as clearly as possible because it is a place where the sexism of this campaign is deeply embedded:

1. Candidates running for President who are winning the largest, most important Democratic states consistently have no business quitting the race. After a weak start, Clinton ran an incredibly strong primary campaign that got more powerful with each passing day. Obama's stagnated after February. The schedule these people are referring to only exists in the mind of Axlerod, Brazile, and Dean.

2. The idea that she should "quit now" started right after Iowa with Jonathan Alter's asinine critique in Newsweek. It was amplified by the media after every Clinton victory. Notice the last word please. During Clinton's string of caucus losses in February the "she should quit now" meme actually died down. Then, on cue, and bizarrely, it ramped up again after her landslide win in Ohio and victory in Texas. It ramped up again after Clinton destroyed Obama in Pennsylvania. The only "schedule" for Clinton to exit was Obama's and the media's. Not Clinton's and certainly not the voters'.

3. The complaint that "they are behind schedule" because of Clinton is EXACTLY the kind of sexism that has gone unreported on this year. There was no reason for Clinton to drop out. She suspended her campaign at the point that it made sense.

I know I just said the same thing 3 times. But is needs repeating. There was no coordinated rush by the media to see Reagan drop out in 1976 or Kennedy in 1980, or McCain in 2000. All these men were in much weaker positions in those years than Clinton was in this one.

The difference is obvious. Gender.

Get the harpie off the stage. That's what was on the "schedule".

The subtext of all the "get out now" bile from Olbermann to Huffington, to the legions of numb skulls on Kos, to Cafferty, to Alter, to Dowd, to Frank Rich, to Randi Rhodes, to Dick Morris was bigotry toward a strong female candidate. BIGOTRY. If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck... and yes, I am saying Maureen Dowd is a sexist bigot - whether she knows it or not. Nothing seems to rattle women of faux accomplisment like Dowd and Huffington as much as a woman of real accomplishment.

Finally - the compulsion by the Obama people is to blame Clinton. But it is not her fault Obama could not close the deal. It's his.